No Strings Attached

The electronic door hummed from the porch, followed by the sound of thick footsteps of loafers, thudding against the marble floor. It was Reynaldo. Mr. Davies had invited him over for dinner, but he had arrived earlier than expected.

"Rey, is that you?" His mum's voice echoed warmly from the top floor.

"Hey, Mum!" Reynaldo responded, tilting his head to see his mum's figure descending the stairs.

"Come on in, son." She smiled, heading towards the large brown dining table. He joined her, following suit. They were seated when the cook began serving dinner, neatly arranged for a table of four. Sabrina soon joined them, coming

down the stairs.

"Good evening, family." She said.

"Good evening, Sabrina. How are you doing today?" Her mum asked.

"I'm good, Mom. Hmm... dinner looks so yummy!" Sabrina exclaimed, breathing in the savory aroma.

"How have you been, bro?" She asked, looking at Reynaldo, whose eyes were fixed on the meal in front of him. Although Rey and Sabrina were siblings, two years apart, they rarely spoke. They spent most of their time apart, from high school

to college days, attending different schools.

"I'm good, Sis," Rey responded, digging into his appetizer.

They all ate silently and slowly, with just the sound of their cutlery clinking, breaking the silence until they were full.

Sabrina was the first to leave the dining table. She received a call about a package she had ordered yesterday.

"Okay, I'll be on my way! Yes... yes." She said this into the phone, pushing her seat back and signaling to her parents with one finger.

"I'll be right back!" She whispered before leaving.

Mrs. Davies was the next to leave.

"I have to go take a warm bath." She said, smiling. The comfort of her Jacuzzi was the one thing she looked forward to at the end of each day. She left, calling the cook to clear the dishes.

Soon enough, Rey realized he was left alone with his Dad at the table. His father was staring at him intensely, and he knew there had to be more to it. Rey dropped the phone into the pocket of his blue jeans and waited.

He knew there was something behind the dinner invitation, it was unusual.

"Reynaldo, son." He called.

"Yes, Mr. Davies," Rey responded.

"How have you been, son?"

"I have been well, Mr. Da..."

"I'd prefer Dad if you don't mind." Mr. Davies interrupted.

"Okay, Dad." Rey answered, with a hint of sarcasm.

Mr. Davies sighed and continued, "You know, I invited you over for a reason, of which I'm very much certain you do not care to know, but I will say it anyway. I'm turning sixty soon. I'm growing old and so are you. Time waits for

no one, son. I'm growing too old to manage business projects, and I need to rest. I have built this fortune for you. You and I both understand that."

"I need to hand over the company to able hands - hands that would be able to handle the value I have placed in time and hard work. I know you have been doing pretty well, son, but there's more to life than just making money. You need a partner through the ups and downs of life, you know." Mr. Davies paused, watching Reynaldo's stern expression.

"Reynaldo, you're my first son. You are my successor and heir. And to be honest, I can see

you did a good job working yourself into a better man. I'd commend you for that. But I want just one thing from you before my sixtieth birthday in a few months."

Rey knew where this was heading, and he absolutely hated it when his father brought

up the topic of marriage. It made him distant from his father. It angered him

and boiled his patience away.

"I want you to get married," Mr. Davies said. "You can only take over the company and its assets if you find yourself an eligible bride before then." He finished, letting his words delve into the tension filling the room.

"What?" Rey's voice thundered.

His nostrils flared as he fumed; his eyes darkened, holding his father's gaze, unblinkingly. He clenched his jaws and gnashed his teeth.

"Is this some kind of blackmail? And why do you think you can decide that for my life? What makes you think, Mr Davies, that you can dictate the terms on which I should live?"

"And right now, I think you should mind the manner of your speech, Reynaldo Davies!" Mr Davies's voice grew annoyed and his eyes grew cold.

"Oh please drop that childish longing from the past! I know you loved Vanessa but that doesn't mean you'd remain a bachelor. I need a generation that can carry on my legacy." He continued.

"Did you just call it childish?" Rey asked, his eyes narrowing.

"What else is it called when you can't simply move on from a relationship that ended seven years ago?" Mr. Davies's words cut deeply. They were like acid, burning down Rey's throat.

Mrs. Davies, who had been listening from afar, was teary-eyed but refused to intervene.

"Father, There is no need to bug me like this. Besides, I'm not even thirty-five yet. Your threats won't change my feelings about women. Except for mum, all they care about is money and that is exactly what Vanessa did. So, you won't determine or teach me how to live my life, Mr. Davies!" Rey retorted.

"If that is what you want, then, so be it." He paused searchingly.

"But be ready to watch your sister become the next successor."

Rey felt a chill run down his spine at the ultimatum. He looked away fighting the urge to lash out further.

"This isn't fair." He muttered under his breath.

"Life isn't fair, Rey," Mr. Davies replied his voice a little softer now. "But it is the reality we all must face."

Rey's breath labored with the urge to hit something. In a swift movement, he bumped

his fist into the mirror beside the dining table; Its pieces splattering, sinking into the skin of his tight fist.

"Rey!" Mr. Davies shook in horror and just

then, the doorbell rang interrupting them. Who could it have been?

"Look, Rey, I have heard enough of what you have to say. You just...need to snap out of your past," Mr. Davies said, his voice lacking conviction, ignoring the ding-dong of the door bell.

"Father, I can not always do as you say! I have lived by your rules my entire life and I would not be going back to that life anytime soon," His words lashed out, his breathe labored.

"Rey, you can not-" ding-dong! The door bell beeped again, interrupting the raising tension.

"And who is it so late in the evening?" Mr. Davies muttered, walking towards the door, leaving Rey in the mess of his bleeding fist and broken glasses.

"Rey, Darling," Mrs. Davies called softly. Rey turned to see her wiping away tears as she descended the stairs. She walked towards him at the Dinning table, her eyes pleading.

"Rey, you should let yourself remember your Dad. It's harmless. We're your parents, and we care more than you can ever know."

"Look at your hands. Gosh! It's a mess full of blood." She said, slowing pulling tiny pieces of the glass out of Rey's blood-bathed fist, as he flinched.

Reynaldo looked at her tear-filled eyes and sighed, feeling the weight of their expectations. He reluctantly nodded as she leaned forward, hugging him.

"I would help you find one myself, if you are unable to keep up with the search." She whispered into his ears, her words like salt to his wounds.

He pulled away from her, almost in a jerk.

"Rey!" Mrs. Davies called out in shock.

His eyes had a distant look, stepping further away from her before he went reeling towards the door, walking past his dad who had being with a deliveryman by the door.

"Reynaldo...Can you just listen?" Mr. Davies voice trailed behind him as he slammed the door shut.

"Rey!" The door hummed close.

"Oops! He's gone, I guess."

"He's got a temper I must say." Mrs. Davies commented, shrugging her shoulders and raising her brows. She sank into the couches, as she watched the silhouette of her son move towards the parking lot through the glass walls of the building.

"Do you think he'd come back?" Tears were streaming her eyes as she looked at Mr. Davies, questioningly.

"Don't worry much, he'd come around. He just needed to hear the truth and the truth sucks." Mr. Davies said, lightly patting her shoulders.

"He didn't even let me dress his wounds."

"Listen to me...it's okay, Honey." He looked at her reassuringly before looking back to the broken bits on the floor.

"My goodness! What exactly happened here?" Sabrina's eyes widened in shock, catching the sight of blood smeared on the marble floor.

"Can someone tell me?" She asked again, watching her mother's eyes lower in sadness.

"It was Rey." Mrs. Davies said, sobbing.

"Rey? Again? Why can't you let him be, Dad?"

"I guess we pushed him too far," Mrs. Davies said.

"We didn't do anything wrong. If we don't get him to face the truth, he'd never move on," Mr. Davies protested.

"And what truth is this? What truth makes you so blind to see your son's pain, Dad?" Sabrina retorted.

"He doesn't want to let go of his past, Vanessa. He has to grow up!"

"Are you sure you're genuinely concerned about him or you just want him to get married for the sake of your legacy?" Sabrina rose an eyebrow, tilting her head.

"What are you saying, Sabrina? Why would I do that?"

"OH! Dad, please spare this fake concern. I know you better. I would call the cleaner on my way out to take out that mess," She said, going towards the door, then paused remembering something.

"By the way, did you receive any package in my name?" She asked, gesturing to her parents.

"Yeah, I think there's a package for you, Sabrina," Mr. Davies said.

"It's near the door, over there." He pointed out.

"Alright, thanks!"

****

Rey dropped into the driver's seat of his Rolls Royce, gasping and gulping down as he tried to calm his racing heart. He had lost it back here.

The argument replayed in his mind and the ache of the past seven years felt as fresh as

ever. Why couldn't he grieve in his own time?

The engine's hum offered him some solace, and soon Rey found himself driving towards Juniper street. He turned on his phone's jukebox, letting Jordan's Kehlani fill the car.

Pulling up to Flux, a classy bar, he turned off the car's engine and stepped out. The music, the smell of alcohol and high laughter came welcoming his ears as he pulled the door open.

"Hey Rey, what's good, Man?" A Blonde bartender with arms full of snake-skin tattoos

greeted Rey, scanning him seductively.

"I've been good," Rey said with a smirk.

"You've been all over the TV screens in California, uhh?" She smiled, mixing a drink for him, as the music chimed softly in the background.

"It's just work, honey, you know, my dad's company." He laughed, taking the drink.

"Those eyes could make a woman quiver, man! You're a TV gold, Rey."

"Flatterer," He said, downing the drink.

"That was a quick one." The Blondie said.

"Another shot, honey. Make it stronger."

"Hope you good?"

"Yeah...I think I am." He replied, distantly.

"Hey, baby!" A voice called from a table at the end of the room.

"Yes, Charlie!"

"Three more benches," The voice said, hoarsely.

"Sorry, Rey. I'd have to leave so soon. Anyways, enjoy the night." The blondie said.

"Alright." Rey signaled with a raised hand, slightly.

After a few more shots, he came out of the bar, a little tipsy in the haze of alcohol and plunged into the driver's seat. In a few minutes, the car was swiftly speeding up over average on a deserted street a few miles away from Rey's modern villa. The car swerved a little side wards and he stiffened his hold on the gears.

The moon light glowed on the smooth surface of the vehicle as he pulled out his phone. Swiping through his contacts, He had dialed his cook's number, in his subconscious state.

"Hello, Sir," Mia's voice came through the speakers of the phone.

"Mia." His voice rose deeply from the throat.

"Good evening, Mr. Reynaldo, is there any way I can help you?" She asked, but there was no response.

"Hello?" She repeated, yet the silence welcomed her.

She didn't want to confirm the doubt bubbling on her mind. But the sharp sound eluding the

phone affirmed her doubts.

What on earth had happened to Rey?

Mia's voice grew weary and afraid as she stormed out of the kitchen, racing out in the cold while tracking the GPS location of Rey's phone. Her heart pounded as she navigated the dark, deserted road.

Though winter was nearly over, snow began to fall, dusting the streets in white flakes that glowed yellow under the streetlights. She dialed the Emergency contact in her phone, alternating between short sprints and brisk walks.

A male voice crackled out of the phone. "This is 911. What's your emergency?"

"There's an accident somewhere around old Highway 80 in San Diego. Please help!" She cried.

"We'll be there in a minute."

"Thank you," she whispered, her voice trembling.

She looked into the night, set aglow by the waning streetlight, towering over her. There was a car across the street that looked exactly like Rey's, swerved into a ditch.

She walked a little closer and slower, the GPS tracker indicating arrival at the prospect's location. The face her eyes met, in the pit of his subconscious, almost threw her off-balance. It was Rey, with his head resting on the car's wheels.

"Mr. Reynaldo?" She asked unsure, her voice growing coarse with despair, drawing closer to the scene.

She opened the car's door and tried to revive him but to no avail. She pulled him out of the car in a struggle and laid him on the grass.

He had gotten a few scratches, and his alcoholic state wasn't helping. In the cold air, her breath labored, crawling visibly out of her lips. The snowflakes dropped on his face and she stretched her fingers out to pick them away.

Her fingers froze, and she withdrew in realization. This was the first time she had ever stared at him for this long. Her eyes traveled along his relaxed face. Her gaze darted to the shape of his brows and how perfectly they complemented his eyes. She traced the perfect pointedness of his nose, listening to his breath rise and fall.

"What on earth was that?" She jerked, upright. A few seconds away from where the accident happened, she could hear the siren roll out into the night air.

The ambulance arrived swiftly, sirens cutting through the night. Paramedics from UC San Diego Health-La Jolla and Hillcrest hospitals worked efficiently.

"He would be fine," one of them said.

"Yeah... It's a minor case, but his hands are bleeding badly. It looks like an impact from another accident," the one who seemed to be their superior examined, making Mia feel disturbed.

They had bandaged the bleeding arm and placed a small plaster on his head.

"Wait a minute, why does this guy look like Reynaldo Davies, the software mogul, I saw on TV last night?" Another paramedic asked. She was the youngest of them.

"That's true though, he looks just like him," another responded. Mia knew she didn't want this going out into public knowledge. It would make the headlines that the son of California's richest billionaire was found wasted on a deserted highway. So, she averted it.

"No... He isn't Reynaldo Davies. He's just my boss," she affirmed by nodding her head, in hopes that should have cleared all visible doubts.

Reaching the hospital, Andrews, Rey's secretary, was waiting for them. Mia had called and informed him about Rey's accident, and he immediately rushed down to the hospital.

"Hey!" Andrews waved toward her from where he stood at the entrance.

"Mr. Andrews!" She said, waving back as she moved towards him.

"It's a good thing you're here on time. I had no idea how I would have dealt with the hospital bills," she said, heaving.

"How's he doing?" Andrews asked.

"One of the agents said he only sustained a few injuries, and he'd be discharged as soon as he is examined," Mia replied, and Andrews's face relaxed.

"It's good to hear. By the way, you look tired, yourself. Would you mind a light snack?"

"Well... I'm not hungry. I had dinner while waiting for Mr. Reynaldo at home." A faint smile appeared, pulling the corner of her lips.

They waited in a nearby teashop, watching the snow fall and sipping tea while Rey was examined and discharged about two hours later.

It was almost morning when they arrived at Rey's villa. He had regained consciousness but with a slightly banging head, just as they left the hospital. Andrews and Mia helped him up the stairs to his room on the second floor, before Andrews bid them goodbye.

Mia helped Reynaldo adjust to the soft duvet in his room. She was at first hesitant to go close to him now that he was watching her movements. His eyes followed every step she took and she felt like the ground should have swallowed her that moment.

Rey never allowed her into his room, not even the ladies who came trailing in every night. He did all he wanted to in the guest room and by morning, they'd be gone.

She drew the curtains closed and turned on the heater at the near end of the room.

"Sir, is there anything else you'd like me to do for you?" She asked, a little skeptical about staying in the room for a minute longer. She watched him move out of bed, pouring himself a glass of water.

"I could have done that if you told me to." She said, lowering her eyes.

He tilted his head in her direction and smirked. He turned, drawing slow steps towards her, pulling at his tie and undoing the buttons of his shirt with his left hand.

"You can stand there if you plan to watch me undress." He teased.

Flustered, Mia backed away, fumbling for the door handle, her heart racing. Outside she leaned against the wall trying to calm herself.

"What was that?" She exclaimed. She remembered the look in his eyes when he spoke his last words. Was he even in an accident a few hours ago? Did he have to be so cunny all the time?

Questions swirled in her mind about her boss's behavior, as she raced to the staff quarters outside the house. The morning light began breaking into the snow-kissed landscape. It was almost sunrise and she hadn't gotten enough sleep.